Mouse-proof piano-pedal.



R. BOLLERMANN. MOUSE PROOF PI PEDAL. APPLIUATION FILED 8, 1913. 1,086,988. Patented. Feb. 10, 1914.

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RICHARD BOLLERMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MOUSE-PROOF PIANO-PEDAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

Application filed August 8, 1913. serial No. 783,696.

Mouse-Proof Piano-Pedal, of which the folthe pedal.

lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the construction of pianos and has particular reference to the construction of means for simply and effectively excluding mice from the interior of the piano. I

Among the objects, therefore, of this invention is to provide a means for use in connection with a piano pedal which will automatically close the opening ordinarily left by the pedal when in its normal elevated position.

' A further object of the invention is to provide a means of the character set forth which is practically invisible while the piano is in ordinary use and yet which closes the passageway alongthe pedal by means exterior to the inside of the pedal mechanism whereby mice are prevented from entering and building nests within the piano as sometimes happens even though the piano on the interior is equipped with a casing to prevent the mice from having access to the other parts of the mechanism.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings forming a part of this specification in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding views, and in whicha Figure,- 1 is a vertical section of a piano, indicating a pedal in side elevation in normal position, the section being on the line- 11 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, parts being in sec'tion'on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

At 10 I show a conventional form of piano pedal having a shank 11 pivoted on a horizontal pivot at 12 and adapted to have connected in any one or more of a series of holes 13 tone modifying devices (not shown). The pedal is supported upon a bracket 14; within the piano casing indicated at the corner between the front 15 and the floor or bottom 16. The front 15 is provided with the usual opening 17 through which the pedal extends and in which parts in both the.

oscillates on the pivot 12. The means for maintaining the pedal in its normal position do not. form any part of this invention and hence are not illustrated. Said opening also is preferably lined with felt, as shown at 18, to deaden the noise which would-be incidental to the movements of As indicated at 19 there is usually sufficient space between the pedal shank and the bottom of the casing, to provide for the movements of the pedal, to enable mice to pass freely into the piano through such space, and much damage oftentimes is done by the mice for this reason. I am aware thatit has been proposed heretofore to apply gates or slides to the pedals on the outside of the piano front for the purpose of excluding mice, but such devices are objectionable because. they mar the appearance of the instrument. fore, an automatically operating gate or barrier 20 in the form of a coil spring, the same being located between the front part of the pedal shank 11 and the floor 16. This gate is made preferably of spring metal wire of a very small gage or caliber, and has a resiliency suflicient for the purpose of extending itself so as to fill the space when the pedal is in normal position, as shown in Fig. 1, but has insufficient strength to ma terially affect the depression of the pedal or its return to normal position. The barrier coil may be made of any suitable diameter so as to completely fill thespace, but

preferably it is slightly larger than the normal space in width, and for this reason the piano front 15 is provided with vertical cylindrical oppositely arranged concavities, as

shown in Fig. 2, and vthese c'oncavities serve to prevent any possible displacement of the barrier and yet provide for its proper ver tical movements. It will thus be seen that I provide an automatically operating harrier located within the piano front and between the pedal pivot and the front face of the casing front, and which will effectively exclude mice from the casing.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination with a piano casing including a front, a bottom and a pedal pivoted in the casing, of a barrier to exclude mice from the interior of the casing, said barrier being located within the piano front' I provide, there- :1 flexible barrier located between {he pedal. and the casing floor and between said conem'it'ies, said barrier substantially fillingthe 15 opening between the pedal and the 1001' in all positions of the pedal.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. 1

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Witnesses:

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